The pounding rains just won't go away in Southeast Asia. For two months, so much water has poured on poverty-stricken Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Thailand that their major rivers are flooded. More than 230 people have died, and 4.5 million people have lost homes, belongings, land or animals.
Although it is the region's usual flood season, this is the worst flooding in decades. Cambodia has suffered most. Many of its families are living in tents and drinking water contaminated by dead animals.
The rivers rise as much as four inches a day, and the end of the rainy season is still weeks away. Says Red Cross relief worker Seija Tyrninoksa: "We are fighting against time."